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MESSAGE 



OF 



GOVERNOR H. R. GAMBLE, 



TO THE 



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ASSEMBLED AT 



JEFFERSON CITY. JUNE 15. 1863, 



.1 1 ; l • I EESOK OITT. 

J. P. AMENT, PUBLIC PRINTKK. 

1863. 






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MESSAGE. 



Gentlemen of the Convention : 

Under the power conferred upon me by your body, I have called 
you together again to consult and act upon matters of the highest interest 
to the State. 

The subject named in the call as that which, in my judgment, chiefly 
demands your attention, is that of the emancipation of slaves. 

In my message to the General Assembly, I expressed to that body my 
general views upon the subject in this language : "Having always lived in 
States where slavery existed, I have had no such prejudice against the in- 
stitution as is felt and expressed by many. But I have long entertained 
the opinion that the material interests of Missouri would be promoted, and 
her resources would be more rapidly developed by the substitution of free 
labor for slave labor. Entertaining this opinion, I looked to the rapid in- 
crease of free population and its excess over the slaves, as sure, in time and 
by ordinary laws that govern commercial interests to effect a change in our 
labor system. Taking no part in public affairs, I have been content to let 
the whole subject take its natural course, without mingling in the discus- 
sion which has arisen." 

" The necessity for action at this time grows out of the present condi- 
tion of the country. A great rebellion against our government exists, and 
its primary object is to inaugurate a government in which slavery shall be 
fostered as the controlling interest." "If the leaders of this rebellion do 
really desire to have our State within their pretended Confederacy, there 
can be no more effectual mode of extinguishing that desire than by showing 



v>* 



our purpose to clear the State ultimately of the institution which forms the 
bond of cement among the rebellious States." 

Such being my views, and being bound by the Constitution " to recom- 
mend to the consideration of the General Assembly such measures as I 
should deem necessary and expedient," I suggested to that body a scheme 
of gradual emancipation. The General Assembly was prohibited by the 
Constitution from passing any law for the emancipation of slaves without 
the consent of their owners, or, without paying them, before such emancipa- 
tion, a full equivalent for the slaves so emancipated. The prostrated con- 
dition of the finances ofHhe State rendered it impossible for the State to 
pay tin- equivalent required by the Constitution. The certainty of obtain- 
ing money from the United States for that purpose was not sufficiently 
clear to form the basis of legislative action. The plan I recommended 
would have reduced the compensation! required to an insignificant amount, 
an amount which in fact might have been provided by the State. 

The General Assembly failed to act upon the subject 

The importance of the subject in its relation to all the interests of 
the State demanded, in my judgment, very speedy action, by a body 
capable of finally disposing of it by the adoption of some wise and just 
scheme of emancipation. The Senate passed a joint resolution requesting 
me to call the Convention together, and also a bill for the election of dele- 
gates to a new Convention, provided your body should not before the first 
day of July next adopt a scheme of emancipation. Although neither of 
these measures was acted upon in the House of Representatives, yet the 
friends of emancipation in the House exhibited the greatest earnestness in 
endeavoring to have the bill which came from the Senate acted upon by 
the House, and were only foiled by the application of stringent parliamen- 
tary rules. This action in the Assembly gave strength to my own convic- 
tion that you should be called together rather than wait until the Assembly 
should again convene in November next, and then initiate measures of 
emancipation which might require some time before they could have effect. 

It is under these circumstances that you have been called to assemble, 
ana the subject of the emancipation of slaves is commended to your atten- 
tcntion as a subject of the highest interest to the State, and involving 
questions the must delicate and difficult that you can be required to solve. 

I will not undertake the labor of developing any scheme and recom- 
mending it to you for adoption. The whole subject of emancipation is one 



upon which the mind of men will differ as they are affected by prejudice, 
or inflamed by passion, or controlled by reason, and among those who favor 
emancipation under the guidance of reason alone there is such a variety of 
opinions about schemes and the details of schemes that there is no pro- 
bability of any scheme devised by a single mind meeting with the ready 
approval of other minds in all its details. I will not therefore undertake 
the task of recommending any given scheme. 

This, however, I may be allowed to say, that if a body of intelligent 
and patriotic men will approach the subject with a deep conviction that it 
is of the highest importance to the State that the subject should be disposed 
of, they will be able to dispose of it by agreeing upon some measure, al- 
though it may not in all its details be the exact expression of the will of 
any individual who sustains it. 

I will venture to say, farther, that in this, as in all other cases, in which 
a State, for its own benefit, deprives any of its citizens of property, po- 
litical morals require that the citizen shall be deprived of his rights no 
farther than is necessary to make the public benefit certain and secure. 
While, then, emancipation is necessary for the public good, the period at 
which it shall be made effectual and complete admits of great diversity of 
opinion. This question of time is one on which those who agree in respect 
to the main point can, by mutual concession, harmonize their views. 

In my communication made to you at your session in June last, I sub- 
mitted to you a brief statement of what I had done up to that time to put 
the State in a condition of defence, so that she might be protected against 
enemies, external and internal. The latter class consisted of bands of 
robbers and assassins, who, scattered over the country in smaller or 
greater numbers, made the existing state of war a cover (for their 
schemes of plunder and murder. It became manifest that the regularly 
organized forces in the service of the United States were not as well adapted 
to the work of ridding the country from these bodies of outlaws, as would 
be a force of militia organized throughout the State, ready at all points to 
detect and destroy such an an active and vigilant enemy. The fact, too, 
that the population of the State, loyal and disloyal, were so mingled to- 
gether as to render it impossible to distinguish between the friends and the 
enemies of the Government (where there had been no public manifestation 
of the feeling of disloyalty) and that such commingling of the cla- 
facilitated the operations of these hostile bands ami exposed the loyal men 



to their outrages, rendered it necessary to distinguish the classes from each 
other. To accomplish both these objects, it was determined, in consultation 
with Brigadier (now Major) General Schofield, then commanding the Dis- 
trict of Missouri, to organize the entire loyal militia of the State. Accor- 
dingly, an order was issued requiring the organization of the militia of the 
State, "for the purpose of destroying the bands of guerrillas," and com- 
mitting the work of organization to General Schofield, who was a Brigadier 
of State Militia, as well as a Brigadier of United States Volunteers. Un- 
der his direction, the organization proceeded with great rapidity, and soon a 
large force was prepared to take part in the defence of the State and in 
protecting its loyal citizens. The process of organization had the imme- 
diate effect, too, of drawing the lines between loyal and disloyal citizens, 
and of giving confidence to loyal men as they became organized and armed 
and acquainted with their strength. This measure has been of incalculable 
benefit to the State, in preserving its loyal inhabitants from the depredations 
of marauding bands, in preventing the formation of such bands, and in pur- 
suing and breaking them up when formed. And in battle with an organized 
enemy, as at Springfield and other places, the Enrolled Militia have shown 
that western troops, although they may be raw, have a daring enterprise, a 
reckless courage, which, with other people, is the result of long training 
and discipline. 

Yet there are persons who speak against the Enrolled Militia, and make 
accusations against them of disloyalty. It may be true that the anxiety of 
officers, when forming regiments, to swell the number and apparent strength 
of their commands, may have caused them to admit into their ranks some- 
disloyal men. Such conduct was in direct violation of the orders issued by 
General Schofield, and of orders issued from the headquarters of the State. 
When the roll of companies were deposited in the office of the Adjutant 
General, there was no means of ascertaining the loyalty or disloyalty of the 
men : all had been sworn alike, and if the officer had really obeyed orders, 
all were loyal, and therefore the organizations were recognized. That any 
considerable proportion of the Enrolled Militia are disloyal is not to be be- 
lieved, when we see the alacrity with which they take the field, endure hard- 
ships and engage in battle. That some of them have been disorderly and 
lawless, committing gross outrages, may be admitted, but this will be the 
with all troops in the field, unless they are restrained by their officers, 
and many officers of the militia have not acquired the habit of command. 



7 

Ever since the enterprise of opening the navigation of the Mississippi 
has been in progress, there has been a constant drain of United States 
forces from this State, and at the time of ordering the enrollment of the 
militia, the United States force within the State was so much reduced that 
its weakness was a strong reason for making the enrollment, so that the 
militia might be used for defence. The demand for troops to be sent 
South has ever since continued, and those who knew the object and felt 
that the opening of the navigation of our river was of the greatest impor- 
tance to us, have felt willing to see all troops go who could be spared. 

On the 18th of December last, I received from the President a dispatch 
in this language : " It is represented to me that the Enrolled Militia 
alone would now maintain law and order in all the counties of your State, 
north of the Missouri river ; if so, all other forces there might be removed 
south of the river or out of the State. Please post yourself and give me 
your opinion upon this subject." To this dispatch I replied, that if the 
Government would pay and maintain the force, I would undertake the work, 
and would call out no more men than necessary, — that the removal of 
other troops would promote rather than hinder success. 

After waiting for some time I explained my plan to Major General 
Curtis, commanding the Department, who objected that it would be too 
expensive. Knowing that the whole district of country referred to by the 
President had in it but one regiment of cavalry and a part of a regiment 
of infantry, and that Union men entertained strong apprehensions for 
their safety, I determined to carry out my plan without further delay. 
On the 3d of February last I instructed the Brigadier General Command- 
ing the north-eastern portion of the State, to detail twenty-four companies, 
of approved loyalty and efficiency, with the requisite number of officers, 
and form them into two regiments ; the force to be used " to repress any 
attempts at insurrection and to prevent any combinations against the Gov- 
ernment, and to maintain the laws of the State." Similar instructions 
have been given to the other Brigadiers, and now there are nine such reg- 
iments formed and being formed in different parts of the State. In the 
meantime^ the strength of the United States volunteer force in the State 
is being rapidly reduced by the demand for reinforcements to be sent to 
before the army Vicksburg, and we are approaching the condition in 
which Ave are to defend ourselves against enemies without, as well as within 
the State. I am confident, however, that the State Militia, organized 



under the arrangement which I made with the President in November, 
1861, and the regiments of Enrolled Militia, formed by the details just 
mentioned, will be able, with occasional help from the mass of the En- 
rolled Militia, to defend us against any enemy who is likely to approach 
our borders. 

The promptitude with which the militia take the field was exhibited a 
short time since, when a Confederate force, coming from Arkansas, made a 
raid into the southeastern portion of the State, producing considerable agita- 
tion. Major General Curtis applied t^ me to call nine regiments into ser- 
vice. Orders were immediately dispatched to the Brigadiers from whose 
commands the men were wanted, and in a few days the whole force was on 
the march. 

Although orders have been obtained from Washington for clothing, 
equipping and subsisting the militia in active service, our self-defence 
imposes a great expense in paying the men. But there can be no doubt 
that the United States will reimburse the State for all her outlay. In fact, 
the provision already made for clothing and subsisting the men, is an ac- 
knowledgement that they are rendering service for which the United States 
ought to pay. 

In order that the whole military force may he most efficient, it has been 
judged best to place the militia in active service under the command of 
Major General Schofield, the Commanding General of the department, who 
is an educated and talented officer, interested in Missouri, and anxious for 
her peace and prosperity, and having no other ambition than to serve his 
country. 

And now, Gentlemen of the Convention, you can see from this statement, 
taken in connexion with the communication made to you, at your session in 
last June, what has been done to place the State in an attitude of defence 
against all the enemies which the rebellion has brought against her. She 
has met every call for troops which the Government of the United States 
has made upon her. She has raised ten thousand men for her own defence 
to serve during the war. She has organized her entire loyal militia, and 
has called them into the field at such times and in such numbers as the pro- 
tection of her people has demanded. She is now putting nine regiments 
into more permanent service, with every expense, except pay, borne by the 
United States, and all the militia in service are under the command of the 
Major General of the Department. 



9 

So far as any apprehension may be felt of any formidable invasion from 
the South, I regard it as groundless. The armies of the Union have carried 
the war far south of us, and we are in daily expectation that Vicksburg, 
the great stronghold of western rebellion, will yield to our arms, and that the 
navigation of the Mississippi will be opened to us. When this is accom- 
plished, when our flag shall be bourne all along the Mississippi, there can 
be no war of magnitude on the western side of the river ; there can be no 
reflux of the tide of war over our State, and the great labor which we have 
undertaken for Missouri, of holding her upright and safe as a member of 
the Union, will be completed, and you will feel and I will feel that the two 
years of care and anxiety which we have passed in her service will have their 
reward in the consciousness that our labors have not been in vain. And if 
at your present session some judicious scheme of emancipation shall be 
adopted, that will rapidly bring within her borders the crowds of the ener- 
getic and enterprising who seek western homes, you will soon see her deso- 
lated homes rebuilt, her war stricken fields again teeming with the rich pro- 
ducts of her fertile soil, her mines pouring forth their wealth, her mechanic 
arts again flourishing, her institutions of learning filled with her blooming 
children, her credit as a State restored, and prosperity and happiness will 
reign throughout her borders. 

The security of the State from any farther attempts to bind her to the 
Confederacy of the revolted States, will be an appropriate occasion for us 
to lay down the power which has been conferred upon us, and which we 
have wielded for the benefit of the State and of the Union. A measure of 
emancipation is to be regarded as a measure contributing to that security. 

There is one other measure for which there appears to exist a great ne- 
cessity, 

In such a contest as has occurred within this State, feelings of revenge 
have arisen and have embittered the contest, and this feeling has often had 
expression in lawless acts of those who were in military service. The 
murderous warfare of the guerrilla and the bushwhacker, has provoked to re- 
taliation upon those who were supposed to countenance their atrocities; and 
the exercise of this retaliatory vengeance has been left to the judgment or 
mere caprice of squads of soldiers. While the summary execution of men 
found in arms in these bands of miscreants is justified by the laws of Avar, 
it becomes altogether a different question whether a man shall be shot down 
in his field and his house be burned, upon the suspicion of a squad of sol- 



10 

diers that he is a secessionist or a rebel, or that he favors the guerrillas. It 
is too easy to cover up a desire for vengeance or a love of plunder, or a 
general thirst for blood by this off-hand denunciation and execution. Be- 
side, this license has the effect of utterly demoralizing the troops who in- 
dulge it. 

I submit to you, therefore, the propriety of providing for the estabish- 

ment of some tribunal, civil or military, for the trial of persons belonging 
to such armed bands of guerrillas or bushwhackers, or furnishing them with 
information or assistance, so that the trial shall be prompt and°the punish- 
ment adequate. This recommendation is founded upon the idea that these 
persons are not to be treated as persons engaged in war, but mere enemies 
of the human race, and it has the greater force, if we regard the probability 
that such bands will exist here even after the authority of the government 
has been completely established over the revolted States. They are not 
collections of men against whom proceedings are to be had by a sheriff with 
his posse, nor upon a warrant from a Justice of the Peace, nor upon an in- 
dictment found in the particular county in which a murder or a robbery has 
been perpetrated. They would laugh at such proceedings. They must be 
acted upon by a tribunal that proceeds differently from our civil courts. 
Suppose as an illustration of the idea, that the leader calls himself a Con- 
federate officer ; we don't propose to deal with him as a Confederate officer, 
but as a person who is leading a band of robbers and murderers against the 
peaceable people of Missouri. I think the establishment of such tribunals 
would be the foundation of a proper restraint upon soldiers, by taking away 
all excuse for punishment by them, except in the single case of punishing 
men actually taken inarms, and it would have a better effect in restraining 
those who are tempted to join such bands when they discover certain but 
regular punishment before them. 

Gentlemen of the Convention, as this is probably the last time you will 
assemble, it may not be inappropriate to refer to the different steps which 
have been taken in the process of upholding the authority of the Federal 

Government in Missouri. 

A i your first session, held in St. Louis, the utterances in your body 
that favored disunion -were greeted with applause in the crowded lobby, 
and within two squares of the building in which your session was held, was 
the headquarters of the minute men, a treasonable organization, boldly in 
the face of day Haunting a flag which was the emblem of their disloyalty. 
You resolved against secession and separated. 



11 

Treason made rapid progress, its emissaries being active through the 
State. War against the Federal Government was inagurated, and the State 
authorities became committed to it. The zeal and energy of an assailing 
party, turning every occurence to their own account, and misrepresenting 
every act of the Government, swelled the ranks of the disaffected until, 
with impunity, the most oppr6brious epithets were freely bestowed upon 
those who remained faithful to their allegiance. 

In July, 1861, you again assembled, and meeting the crisis with firmness ' 
you deposed the State Government then in being, and inaugurated the 
Provisional Government on the last day of that month. You revived a 
militia law that had been originally designed for holliday parades. Believ- 
ing that many had been led into treason by the persistant misrepresenta- 
tion of the purposes of the Union party, I issued a proclamation on the 
4th of August, designed to correct the wrong impressions which had been 
made, and, with consent of the President, offered an amnesty to those who 
would return to their allegiance. 

On the 10th of that month the disastrous battle of Wilson's Creek was 
fought, and General Lyon fell. I had done my utmost, by application in 
writing, and in person to have him reinforced ; consternation spread every- 
where among the Union men. The secessionists were bouyant and confi- 
dent. Many of your members became fugitives from your homes. Here, 
in the capital of the State, men of firmness and sense were uneasy because 
of the armed guard of the Penitentiary, which was entirely under the con- 
trol of the secessionists. This latter class, here, in the confident expecta- 
tion of success, were sure of speedily driving away the Provisional Govern- 
ment. The call for troops made on the 24th of August, and the efforts 
made to arm and equip them, have been stated to you in formerc ommuni- 
cations. Complaints that came to the Executive were all complaints of 
outrages perpetrated on Union men. The offices of the State were nearly 
all in the hands of enemies of the Government. The prospects of success 
was still on their side. An election had been provided for to take place m 
November to fill the executive offices which you vacated in July. It be- 
came apparent that if such election was attempted the voice of the Union 
men would be drowned, and the State would come under the sway of the 
secessionists. You were called to meet in October. 

At your meeting in October you made provision for vacating the offices 
held by disloyal men, by requiring an oath of allegiance from office holders. 



12 

* 

Tou provided a more efficient military law. You postponed the election 
of executive officers until the general election in August, 1862, and you 
offered an amnesty to rebels on conditions. 

As time advanced and the Union men became better organized, and the 
Military strength greater, and as the Confederate forces were driven out 
of the State, the hopes of the secessionists*became diminished, and when 
the enrollment of the loyal militia was made, then came in the complaints 
of wrongs sustained by the enemies of the Government. The power had 
changed hands, and those who had been free in denouncing the Govern- 
ment had come to regard it as quite endurable. Still there was cherished 
in many breasts a strong antipathy to its rule. Circumstances seemed to 
require that you should again assemble in June, 1862, and at your session 
at that time you determined to guard against the possibility of having a dis- 
disloyal State Government. You provided that all who exercised the. elec- 
tive franchise should take an oath for their future loyalty, and that no per- 
son should be elected to office until he had taken oath that he had not been 
in arms nor aided those in arms against the Government. This was a pre- 
caution deemed necessary to prevent the power of the State, in elective of- 
fices, from falling into the hands of those who were enemies of the Govern- 
ment. You changed the time of general elections from August to Novem- 
ber, and you postponed the election of executive officers until the regular 
election for such officers in 1864. 

From this point of your action the spirit of the rebellion in the State 
may be said to be broken. That there are those who still cherish animos- 
ity against the Federal and State Government I am sure, and that there 
are those who cordially hate Union men I have occasion to know; that this 
spirit will exhibit itself in occasional outrages and in the collection of bands 
of outlaws, I do not doubt. But I think there will be no organized force of 
rebels, of any magnitude, again assembled in the State. 

Thus I am led to the conclusion that by patient, persevering action, 
the State of Missouri has been preserved from falling into the crime of re- 
belling against the Federal Government and that she is now prepared to 
enter upon a new career of prosperity. 

And now, Gentlemen of the Convention, I regard this as a suitable time 
to do what 1 have long contemplated. 

When, on the 31st of July, 1861, you chose me to exercise the execu- 
tive functions of the State, you will remember that I undertook the task 



13 

with the greatest reluctance, and only after the most earnest persuasion. 
I will not repeat the language in which I expressed to you my unwilling- 
ness to hold the office. It is sufficient for me to say that a sense of my 
responsibility to God and my country alone had influence with me. The 
office has never, at any subsequent period, been more desirable to me than it 
was the day I assumed the position, and I have waited for the time to come 
when I could conscientiously, say that I had performed all you asked me to 
undertake. When I was chosen to the office, the only question which 
engaged our attention was, whether the status of Missouri as a State in 
the Union could be preserved, whether our rights as citizens of the United 
States could be protected against those who sought to bind us to the Con- 
federacy of the revolted States. I regard such questions as settled. 

The storm of regular war has passed far to the South. Adequate 
means to repress the outlaws who remain have been provided. Missouri is 
in no danger of being involved in the fortune and fate of the >tates in 
rebellion. Union men regard all such danger as past. They are now 
engaged in bitter disputes among themselves upon questions of internal 
policy. They evidently consider the war for the union as over in Missouri, 
and that what of trouble remains does not require them to be at peace 
among themselves. 

I was not chosen to office to take part in questions of mere internal 
policy, except so far as they might be connected with the relations of 
Missouri to the Union. 

I feel, then, that the service you required of me has been rendered, and 
that there is no farther demand upon me to continue the sacrifice of my 
own tastes and interests. 

I announce to you, therefore, that I resign the office of Governor, to 
take effect upon the last day of your present session. I presume your 
adjournment will be sine die, and I desire my official career to terminate 
with yours. Moreover, the gentleman who succeeds me, and who knows 
nothing of my present act, will-orequire a few days to become acquainted 
with the condition of the office. 

I propose, gentlemen, to take my seat in your body (of which I am 
still a member) in order that I may render any assistance in my power in 
maturing and adopting such measures as you may attempt for the good of 
the State. 

And now, gentlemen, I tender you my acknowledgments for the con- 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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